Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!psuvax1!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: alharv@garnet.berkeley.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Separation of Church and State (mostly regarding abortion) Message-ID: Date: 12 Aug 90 08:27:21 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: University of California, Berkeley Lines: 31 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [This is a response to a posting that asked us to look at the church/state issues raised by abortion and similar issues. I.e. to what extent should we have laws that are based on a Christian understanding of ethical issues. --clh] Hi- I am not going to try to say anything intelligent about this rather complex issue. But I would recommend a book very highly which does deal pretty well with such things: "Kingdoms in Conflict" by Charles Colson. If anybody should know about both the church and the state, it is Colson. Allan H. Harvey National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly National Bureau of Standards) BITNET: HARVAL@NISTCS2 Internet: harval@gnos.nist.gov OR alharv@garnet.berkeley.edu P.S. I can't refrain from making one comment about the "imposition of morality" question which comes up so often. Are laws restricting abortions impositions of morality? Of course! So are laws against murder and racial discrimination. You can't have laws for a society apart from some moral judgments about right and wrong. We now descend from our soapbox and return you to our regular programming. [Right. All laws are in some sense an imposition of morality. So we have to decide which kinds of imposition of morality it is correct for the State to become involved in. --clh]